Dolpo Autonomous State?

       Dho-Tarap (now falls in Dolpo Buddha Rural Municipality) was imagined as a central administrative center by Dolpo-pa for a Dolpo Autonomous State. Geographically located somewhat at a center of those scattered dolpo communities from Phoksumdo, Saldang to Tinje and Mukot, historically Dho-Tarap is also the place where the main leader, Chikyab used to organize the annual gathering and meeting to settle local conflicts and disputes. In addition, compared to Vijer, Saldang, Tinje and Chharka, Dho-Tarap is also somewhat closer to Dunai, the district headquarter. The present ongoing road construction connecting Nepal with China vis-a-vis Dho and Tinje further makes this area strategic. Therefore, Dho-Tarap falls among these webs of culture, geography and development in Dolpo and Dolpa, the biggest district. Still under the context of centralized state, why and whose political conspiracy led to the region's failure to claim DAS? Will we ever question and seek answers especially in center and district? There are few leaders and their behaviors in past to concentrate and discuss. 

       In pic: During the time of the last local election at a rural municipal level in Bharbhong-Dolpo. 

Now the political context both at a national and local level has changed. Many Dolpo-pas voted in the last local election at a municipal and province level. Consequently, Dolpo confronts a political reality, a socio-political and administrative division of 3 Rural Municipality (RM). It will be somewhat even harder to forget the struggles and negotiation they had to do for their own political center, each in 3 RMs. Especially when Dolpo have now tasted power, will they still imagine a single United Dolpo Autonomous Region? Controlled now by a political party, the way ahead is extremely challenging.

At a community level, most of us are somewhat content with the annual fiscal budget and even if we are struggling with those allocated budget (comparatively less for this year than the last fiscal year) and our relative autonomy in every RM level meeting in wards and villages, we are yet to properly discuss about the imagined state, Dolpo Autonomous State (DAS) and its implications for whole Dolpo. Will we then ever discuss about it, DAS in a present Federal Context? At a political level, it is further challenging as we are still scattered, not properly united since many centuries and also considering a major hurdle, which is to have that elusive majority in any political party, even at a district level; forget about it then at any central committee. Since the submission of a letter indicating the special, protected and autonomous zones of those 3 RMs in National Election Commission (NEC), we have not talked about that among ourselves. Government and NEC's complete negation of such zones for marginalized Indigenous communities never really helped. At a social level, that level of silence over an overarching collective poses extra challenge. In addition, none of the government officials in the district government, Province Government, and even the central government pays any heed to our silenced voices. 

Therefore, slimmer and impossible the chances of Dolpo will become, sooner Dolpo-pas fail to reflect, realize and enact upon that political future...

Thank you!

Thursday, September 20, 2018